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THE AMERICAN NATURALIST [Vol. LIII 



threads and many on 15- and 18-thread lines. On the 

 following page (130) he tabulates the weights of eight 

 black sea bass ranging from 327 to 436 pounds caught on 

 number 24 lines. Again on page 109 he states that Edwin 

 vom Hofe took a 600-pound sawfish on a 15-thread line 

 breaking at 30 pounds dead pull. On pages 166-167 of 

 his '^Eecreations of a Sportsman on the Pacific Coast" 

 (1910) Holder describes the catching of an 8- or 9-foot 

 shark with a 9-thread line, and on page 169 he describes 

 the taking of a 12-foot, 310-pound shark with a tuna rod 

 and reel, the line of which was not heavier than 24 

 threads. Examples might be still further multiplied, but 

 enough have been given to establish the facts. 



Now the tuna is probably the hardest fighting game fish 

 in the world taken on a light line, while the black sea bass 

 and the sharks are undoubtedly the heaviest dead weights 

 of any fishes taken with rod and reel. Thus the argument 

 is that if these fishes can be taken on lines breaking at 

 dead weight pulls of from 18 to 48 pounds, then an Eche- 

 neis, which, suspended by a cord around its tail, supports 

 a dead weight of 24.25 pounds,. could easily be used to 

 draw in fish and turtles of the sizes noted throughout this 

 pajK'r. And this without any danger of tearing its tail off. 



To the present writer, all the evidence at hand sustains 

 and confirms the stories of the living fishhook from the 

 time of Columbus to the present day. 



POSTSCEIPT 



Since this paper was written I have chanced upon an 

 article by F. Tamborini, bearing the title ''Jagd- und 

 Kunstschafterdienst im Meere," published in ''Die 

 Xntiir.'' 1900, Vol. 49, pp. 231^235. Examination of this 

 >li()\v- tliat it contains nothing new, but note is made of it 

 here that this may be understood and for the sake of 



BIBLIOGRAPHY 

 I'W:;. \>r [■\-r\\.:. ,.T ,le Cetis, p. 368, fig. Bononia. 



